BIGGER PICTURE BLURRY FOR VISIONLESS

Have you ever looked at something really small? So small you had to move your face really close to it?

A small flower or perhaps a bug or perhaps, you were looking at a scratch or dent on a surface?
Whatever it was, you were right there with your nose in it. Could you see the larger picture at that point? If you were looking at an ant or a small flower, how much of the bigger picture, the ecology they live in, could you see?
If you were looking at a small scratch or dent on your car, how much of the rest of the car, much less the parking lot, could you see?

While the statement is more a metaphor than these concrete examples, I find it helpful to my understanding.
If you do not have vision, if you are not trying to see the big picture, you are never going to see it. The bigger picture allows you to see what you can do to make the most of your opportunities, to maximise the possibilities.
But, only if you have vision!

Why is seeing the bigger picture important?
In solving a function for a minimum error, there is the concept of local minima or maxima. Think of it as a small hill or valley on a map. It might not be the highest or lowest point on the whole map, but in that small region, it is the best there is.

And it is a trap, locking the solution, or the person, into something other than the best possible result.
That is what not seeing the bigger picture does to us. We constantly look at our feet, focusing on going uphill, until we reach the top.

Then we look around and realise we have climbed up a small hill, surrounded by much larger hills. We will have to go downhill, and then climb again to get to the highest peak.However, if we have the vision to see the bigger picture from the beginning, we can see all the peaks in the area and then plot a far more efficient course to get to that peak.
We might even leave an escape route, in case we spot a higher peak on the way, right? The same applies to life. What path are you pursuing, and how much effort are you putting into finding your best possible result?

Is it a global maximum, or just a local one? Finding the highest peak might involve switching careers or even moving to somewhere that has more possibilities. But it relies on you having the vision to look for the big picture.
Where can I apply this in my life?

We could make a list of people who had vision and saw the bigger picture. Captains of industry typically fall into that category - Getty, Rockefeller, Gates, Jobs and so many others. Political leaders as well, from Gandhi and Churchill, to America’s founders, to Alexander the Great, to Cincinnatus (if you do not know who these people are, they are worth the time to look up).

They saw the bigger picture, and they were able to steer their lives to the best possible spots. Along the way, things happened, some good and some not as good, but they had the vision to see where they could go, and how they were going to get there, and they made it happen. While the people listed above were all players on the world stage, it does not require that high of a profile to see the bigger picture.

To have vision, to see where your life is going, does not require you to be world class, but yourself.  What are your hopes and dreams? Where is your mountain top? What are you trying to maximise? The easy answer, the usual answer, is more money.

A few people want money just to have it. Most of us want it for what it can do for us. We use it as a tool or a measuring device. How much do you need to get a car, a house, pay-off debts, or go on holiday? But how many of us are in the best possible job to get to where we want to go? To get to the next step in wealth, I would have to quit my job and become an entrepreneur.

As a business owner, especially if one is successful, one can make a great deal more money than as an employee. However, there are significant risks and downsides to being the boss. So, I have achieved a local maximum for my cash flow. However, I have learned that there are other ways to measure my success and my happiness, ways that do not require tons of cash. I am focusing some of my effort on other routes to the highest hill of happiness I can see.
How are you trying to get to the best place you can see?

Are you focused on so small a portion of your life that you are not seeing the bigger picture, and all the other ways you can get what you are hoping for out of life? Do you have vision, or do you just see what is in front of your nose?
 There are many paths, many routes, many ways to get to happiness. Is your goal to be happy, or have you lost the bigger picture, and zoomed in on one route or method?  Take a moment and look around at where you are, where you want to be and why you want to be there.

Once you have a better view of the big picture, you will start to gain the vision you need to find the better way, perhaps even the best way, to get there.

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